Santa Muerta Death cult of Mexico

Has anyone heard of this death cult in Mexico? I just read the Wiki on it. A friend of mine told me that her daughter had invited her boyfriend to stay with them at her house and has a Santa Muerta statue that he put in his room. Just wanted to know if anyone has any more knowledge of this cult or icon.

Yes, she is big down here in South Texas. She is kind of like St. Jude, the patroness of lost/worthless causes. In Mexico she is invoked by drug cartels for protection, there are also shrines for her through out large Mexican cities.

p.s. Roman Bishops have tried (to no avail) to purge devotion to her in the dioceses here, she is one of the many "folk saints" that people who migrated here brought with them.

Some say that the tradition originated with the Aztecs.

It seemed to be the Goddess of death. My friend asked him to get it out of the house and he finally did.
The Catholic Church in Mexico has seemingly had difficulty with this because they won't recognize it as Christian. So it has become the cult of the lower classes which is why the drug cartel endorses it.

MDIVGRAD said:

It seemed to be the Goddess of death. My friend asked him to get it out of the house and he finally did.
The Catholic Church in Mexico has seemingly had difficulty with this because they won't recognize it as Christian. So it has become the cult of the lower classes which is why the drug cartel endorses it.

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Don't worry the Catholic church has a history of taking pagan statues and simply renaming them a christian one, and everything is hunky dory, I'm sure they will just jam a baby in her arms and call her Mary, and everyone will worship her just like they've been doing for centuries, probably carry her through town so everyone can kiss her wooden hand......Idolatry....it really never changes no matter how they try to spin it

I am from south Texas and santa muerta is everywhere. Most grocery stores will carry black votive candles, etc.
Like has already been said, it exists while the Catholic church tries to persuade against it, but it has taken root as part of the identity of a sizable percentage of Hispanic Roman Catholics.

Dunstan said:

I am from south Texas and santa muerta is everywhere. Most grocery stores will carry black votive candles, etc.
Like has already been said, it exists while the Catholic church tries to persuade against it, but it has taken root as part of the identity of a sizable percentage of Hispanic Roman Catholics.

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HAHAHAHA! You must be from San Antonio, or Laredo!

From San Antonio and also lived in Corpus Christi for a while.

Another Texan here. I would be a little concerned if my daughter's boyfriend carried one around with him -- it's known to be popular among Mexican drug dealers / cartels.

just read this tonight:

Mexican Family Accused of Human Sacrifices | Fox News Latino

Lord have mercy....

I was raised on the Texas-Mexico border and it's been around for as long as I can remember. Even though I used to go to Mexico by myself in high school to shop, I never wandered too far from the main streets. Unfortunately, it's not safe to do that anymore because of the drug cartels.

Mexico has become a VERY dangerous place and it's devestated those who relied on tourism or even local shopping trade. It's made even more people financially dependant on the very criminals who caused the problem, the drug cartels, and they have been sacrificing people for years, but more people there now live in fear.

It's such a shame, because most people in Mexico are decent. It's always been corrupt, but the drug cartels have gotten so greedy they no longer seem to need to rely on the government to look the other way. They'll just kill whoever gets in their way.

Does anyone remember the Texas college students that went missing and were found to be victims of this in the 80's (or early 90's)? It wasn't shocking news to those of us who lived on the border, but I remember it prompted a national fear of spring break travel to Mexico for several years.